Jubilee's eyes flickered open slowly. After Rogue had touched her she barely had the strength to keep her heart beating.
Then she saw the woman who had kidnapped her six months ago standing over Wolverine with the knife she had dropped.
"No," Jubilee hissed. She forced her body to respond, lifting a hand slightly, then fired a weak plasma blast.
"Don't worry, brat," Silver Fox snarled. "You will be next!"
"Non," Gambit growled, "she won't."
-----
The first thing the X-men heard when they followed the S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives into the house was gunfire from the lower levels. Cyclops snapped out orders that sent the senior members of his team down while Creed took command of the younger X-men, leading them upstairs.
The second sound they heard was a woman's scream. Creed and Blink recognised it as Silver Fox.
They ran faster.
Jag
**********
Remy had charged his entire pack of cards, his other hand resting against the wound.
Jubilee was still desperatly trying not to collapse, when Remy fired his entire deck of cards at Silver Fox.
"Ahhhhhh..." Silver Fox screamed as the kinetic energy engulfed her.
Just then Creed and Blink 'Blinked' into place, as Remy collapsed and Jubilee finally sank into unconsciousness.
Meanwhile a battle for Rogue's mind was taking place.
Sparrow
**********
Within Rogue's mind.
Wolverine clashed claw to sword with Ogun as the other voices in her mind prepared to fight. Cody, her ex-boyfriend wisely stayed away. Magneto, though an enemy was willing to help defend a mutant.
But directly behind Logan despite barely being absorbed at all was Jubilee.
Jason Barnett
**********
Scott lead his team down the stairs after the the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The stairs opened to a wide, sloping corridor. They were heading downwards and could hear gunfire up ahead. The corridor turned and then opened up to a wide room. The area was filled with bullet holes and a couple of bodies wearing Hydra uniforms. The X-Men stopped and looked around.
"It looks like some kind of train station," said Storm looking at the underground rail system.
"I think this place is bigger than anyone expected," replied Scott.
Lurker
**********
Gambit was losing strength quickly, at about the same speed he was losing blood. So far, he had managed to stay conscious through willpower alone. He watched from the floor as the wounded Silver Fox got up, her burns healing before his eyes.
"You will pay for that."
"I don't think so, Fox," a deep, almost animal voice, rumbled.
Gambit turned his head to see Sabretooth and his X-teammates. He never thought he'd be happy to see the larger man, but as he attacked the now armed Silver Fox in battle, Gambit couldn't be happier.
Now that the immediate threat was gone, his adrenaline left him, and he collapsed next to Jubilee.
-----
Shadowcat was stunned to see her friends incapacitated. Jubilee was feebly trying to help Gambit, but she was obviously just as bad off as he was. Logan was unconscious, his breathing labored. Rogue was just plain unconscious.
"Help me here, guys," she called to Iceman and Pyro, but they had already engaged the Hydra troops.
"Jubes, it's gonna be ok. Let me help Gambit." She tried to sound reassuring, but her words sounded hollow even to her.
After securing the makeshift bandage over Gambit's wound, she started to plan how she was going to get her four teammates back to safety without any help.
A purple hand grabbed her shoulder and she twisted around ready to attack. There was no need.
"Clarice?"
"Can I help."
"We need to get them to a safe place."
Clarice closed her eyes, and Kitty felt the shift as her body left one place and reappeared in another.
-----
Inside Rogue's mind was chaos. Logan was slashing at Ogun with his claws while Ogun blocked the attacks and made some strikes of his own. Jubilee's paffs were weak, so she was forced to use them to try to blind Ogun instead of injure him. The tactic had worked a few times, and Logan had gotten in good hits.
Ogun raised his sword to block another blow Logan aimed at him, when the sword was pulled away from his grasp and into Magneto's hand. He mentally recreated the sword just in time to block.
Rogue, for her part, was firing a machine gun into Ogun's back whenever Logan was out of the way, which wasn't that often. She couldn't get closer for her usual hand-to-hand combat style with claws and swords waving around.
Ogun realized that he was losing the battle. It was only a matter of time before they subdued him enough to lock him away in the back of Rogue's mind, never to emerge. He needed to take drastic actions.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the body he now occupied. If he could kill the body, he would kill his attackers. He would die as well, but death was better than the eternal prison they had planned for him.
-----
Kitty looked around. They were now in a large, quiet living room.
The silence was broken by a young teenaged voice calling, "Mom, they're back... Well, some of them are back."
Kitty recognized Karma and Tyger Tiger as they hurried into the room.
"Help me. They're hurt," she said, indicating her injured companions.
"What happened?" Tyger asked.
Kitty opened her mouth to respond when Rogue made a low guttural noise and went into a seizure.
Khaki
**********
Fury found himself leaning against an underground support pillar, his gun held ready for the next barrage of bullets. When they had stormed the safehouse, he had seen Val grab something before heading downstairs. Now he was stuck in this underground maze, seperated from his team, watching her as she approached the lab technician with what looked to be the last component to a large machine that stood in the center of the chamber. The lab was crawling with HYDRA guards on high alert.
'Well, Nick, you found the base and the weapon. You even found Val. Now how are you going to destroy that thing with out blowing up half of the island, Val, and yourself in the process?' he thought to himself.
Lurker
**********
Inside Rogue's mind, Jubilee watched as Ogun released his power. Immediately, she could sense the change. Their surroundings muted and faded, becoming duller colors. Rogue dropped her weapons and clutched her head, writhing in pain.
Wolvie, seething in rage, tried to attack, but Ogun had some sort of mental shield around his essence that Wolvie couldn't get through. Magneto couldn't do anything either, now that Ogun wasn't using his sword.
Soon their surroundings were a dark blood red, fading into black. Jubilee didn't know how she knew, perhaps it was all that time with Ogun in her head, but she knew that he was killing Rogue. The fading was just a result of Rogue dying.
"NO!!!!" she shouted, charging her enemy. "No more. I won't let you kill another person, ever!"
Khaki
**********
She too bounced off the shield surrounding him, but something surprising happened. The color stopped fading from the surrounding mind even though the personality fragments continued to.
-----
"I...I have her mind," Karma grunted with exertion. It's difficult to focus around all the noise of the different voices in her mind but if I can keep a hold of her mind then Ogun will kill himself for nothing."
"But what about the others?" Clarice asked.
"They'll be lost also, but remember, they're just fragments. Their loss will not affect the real people. But it is a difficult use of my possession power. If Xavier is nearby, please hurry and get him. I may need help."
-----
All the soldiers had abandoned the weapon, and Nick walked over to examine it.
"Mighty nice of you boys ta leave the blueprints out for me."
His stogie fell from his mouth as he read the shockingly familiar plans.
"This ain't no weather control device. This is Magneto's mutant creating weapon. Only it don't need a mutant to power it."
With this weapon, Viper could target any populated area and subject them all to slow painful deaths at any time.
"Not even the main branch of Hydra would use this. They'd be too worried the anarchy it would cause would come crashin' down on their heads."
Jason Barnett
**********
"NO!!!" Ogun could tell that it wasn't working anymore. He and his opponents were fading, but their surroundings were recovering. Rogue was back on her feet, standing with Logan and Jubilee.
He was denied this final victory. Someone outside this mind was interfering with his control. Reaching out with all his senses, he tried to find the interloper's mind. He had to stop the interference if he was to succeed.
-----
"You're right, Nick." Val's thick, liquid voice interrupted his one-way discussion. "The main branch of Hydra doesn't even know about this."
"Val," he called, looking up to see her a floor above him at the machine's controls. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because Silver Fox, my master, commands it."
Khaki
**********
"Now, step away from the device, Nick, or I'll activate it. It's not finished, so who knows what'll happen."
"If you're the real Val, you'll thank me for this." He drew his pistol and fired up at her.
She dropped off the weapon and avoided the bullet.
Nick put the gun back into its holster, drew his combat knife, and charged at her. Slashing at her, he managed to graze her thigh.
Rolling away he brought the knife up to his mouth and flicked out his tongue. He knew what blood tasted like; he'd had teeth knocked out and sucked out venom from snake bites. He could tell if she was real or just another LMD.
Jason Barnett
**********
It was real blood, all right. This must be the real Val, but why was she acting so strangely? She said that Silver Fox was her "master." Must be some kind of mind control. If he could get her back to S.H.I.E.L.D., he could probably get her help.
Of course, thinking that would be harder than accomplishing it. Especially since she had drawn a knife of her own and was preparing to attack.
-----
Karma reeled back, breaking her link to Rogue's mind. The power of the attack had caught her off guard and pain filled her senses. She could faintly hear her mother calling her name, but she couldn't respond. Her last thought before she succumbed to unconsciousness was that she had failed. Rogue's attacker had fought back, and she hadn't been strong enough.
-----
Karma had asked for the Professor. He was back in Westchester, but if Rogue needed help, Clarice had to get him.
*BLINK*
She was in Westchester in the Professor's office at the mansion.
"Clarice, what's wrong?"
"No time. Take my hand."
He placed his hand in hers.
*BLINK*
The professor collapsed onto the floor of Tyger Tiger's estate.
'Stupid, stupid,' Clarice berated herself. I forgot his wheelchair. I must be more tired than I thought.
"Sorry," she said.
"Not a problem, my dear," the professor replied, calm as ever. "Now why did I need to be brought here?"
"Rogue's dying. Karma said you could help."
Following Clarice's arm, the Professor took in the sight of several of his X-men and Karma incapacitated on the floor.
Khaki
**********
"Oooo getting kinky, Nicky? Let's see how your heart tastes shall we?" Val lunged forward. Nick swung his blade up to block, looking for an opening to grab her.
-----
The Professor took in the situation quickly scanning the minds of his fallen team. He slid himself into Rogue's mind knowing that was where the battle was taking place and that there wasn't much time left.
-----
Ogun was tired but knew that he had almost suceeded, soon it would all be over. The girl's mind was dim, a dark fog was settling over everything. A lone figure appeared in the landscape. As it walked forward, Ogun could make out that it was a man in armor, carrying a sword. It was the crippled headmaster of the children's school. He moved as one accustomed to battle, a worthy adversary perhaps?
"I am Ogun,Master of the Hand," Ogun bowed then took a fighting stance.
-----
After noting that Blink had helped Kitty with the injured and that the walking icecube and his buddy the flamethower had the guards occupied Sabretooth had turned his attention to Silver Fox. Now he stood dripping wet in a corridor, bullet holes almost healed. The scent of her blood from the cut she had gotten jumping out that window into the rain was strong. She had tried to lose him before ducking into a warehouse a few blocks away from the safehouse but he had found her scent leading down to the basement and now into this maze. Sabretooth fought hard to keep the beast inside in check as he turned left following her.
Lurker
**********
Nick could see it all happening again: fighting with Val, struggling for the knife, her bloody death in his arms. Only this time, he wouldn't find out later that it wasn't the real Val. This was her, and he couldn't let her die again.
Lowering his knife, he took a step back. "Val, I don't want to fight you. You've got to let me help you."
-----
Silver Fox was half-running, half-stumbling through the maze of boxes. The bleeding had finally stopped, but she knew if Sabretooth had decided to follow her, she'd left an easy trail.
Pausing in her flight and holding her breath, she listened very carefully. She could hear the rain beating on the roof, the sound of the wind through the trees outside, and the scrape of a boot on concrete. He was coming.
Her mind flew back to that day: Logan's birthday. She had wanted to surprise him, but it was she who had been surprised when Sabretooth attacked her. He would have killed her if she hadn't managed to escape, but he'd done plenty of damage.
'No,' she thought. 'Not again. I'm strong now. I won't call out to Logan for help. I won't wait for a man who said he'd protect me, who had instead abandoned me. I'll win this time. It is time to make my stand.'
-----
Logan woke with a killer headache, uncomfortably sprawled on an expensive rug. Groaning, he pushed himself up to look around. Jubilee and and a bandaged Gambit were unconscious to his right. The professor was sitting, concentrating solely on Marie, to his left.
He could smell death on her, like her body was shutting down. Looking across the room, he saw Tyger Tiger approaching him.
"What? How?"
"Jubilee and Gambit are recovering. They'll be fine. The professor is helping Rogue. Karma tried, but Ogun is too strong for her. The professor is probably that girl's last hope."
Logan was devastated by that news. He wished he was a telepath for the first time in his life, just so he could help. Of course, wishes never got you anywhere, so he abandoned that train of thought.
A familiar scent caught his attention. It was coming from Gambit's and Jubilee's clothes.
"Silver Fox? Kitty," he called. "Was there a Native American woman there?"
"You mean the gal with the healing factor? Yeah."
"What happened to her?"
"I don't know. I was just trying to get you guys to a safe place. When I left, she and her troops were fighting with Iceman, Pyro, and Sabretooth."
"Sabretooth?" he asked. Then, lost himself in thought. 'Sabretooth and Silver Fox, is he going after her, will it happen again? I have to help her. But how can I leave Marie?'
Khaki
**********
While Wolverine was contemplating his decision on looking for Silver Fox, Jubilee groaned.
Sparrow
**********
"I am Charles Xavier, and you are to release control of this mind at once."
Ogun didn't dignify that with a verbal response. He let his sword answer the man's demand.
He was fast. Ogun would give him that, but Ogun was a master. His skills had been honed over centuries in the art of battle.
As the fight continued, strike after strike hitting, missing, blocking at the speed of thought, Ogun began to tire. The man he fought was as strong as ever. Why wasn't he breathing heavily? Why wasn't the fight draining him like it was Ogun?
-----
Xavier saw his opponent tiring. He might be a master in the real world, but his mental discipline left much to be desired against a strong telepath.
As they fought, Charles built a mental cage. He gave it all the strength that was his powers. Mentally, he imagined a box made of thick strong metal, adamantium even, with no windows, just a door that would seal immediately once it was closed.
His attacks pushed Ogun closer and closer to the enclosure, and before the man knew what was happening, he was inside. The professor heard his shout of outrage as the door slammed shut and sealed. Then there was silence.
~Rogue?~
Nothing. The world around him was frighteningly dim.
~Marie?~
-----
The pain had stopped. The terrible, hurtful, mind-numbing pain was gone, and in its place was a deep, comforting voice. It was a familiar voice.
~Marie?~
~Professor?~
~Follow me, Marie. It's ok. He's gone.~
-----
Logan helped Jubes up to a sitting position. She still looked dead tired, but at least she was herself again. He'd been so worried.
She turned looked down at the man beside her and then turned to him. "Remy?"
"Tyger's says he'll be fine."
She relaxed a bit, leaning against him, then stiffed again. "Rogue?"
"Dunno yet."
The professor moved for the first time in an hour, pulling his hands back from their hovering position around Rogue's head. Then Rogue opened her eyes.
"Marie?" Logan asked, moving to crouch by her. "You ok?"
"Yeah, Logan. I'll be ok. Just real tired," she said closing her eyes again.
He nodded. His decision made, he got up to go find Silver Fox.
"Hey," Jubilee asked from the floor. "Where're you going?"
Khaki
**********
"Ta keep Creed and Fox from killing each other," Logan said gently. "Stay here, Jubes."
Jubilee let herself flop back on the floor with a soft moan. "Oh, like I'm going anywhere!"
Evil Cordy
**********
Silver Fox finally made her position with many weapons by her side to hurt Creed. She remembered, if you struck someone enough times with any kind of weapon, who had a healing factor their healing factor would eventually not be able to keep up.
'Remember try to keep the knife in the neck.' Silver Fox thought as she shivered involuntarily, not from fear, but from how that almost had happened to her.
-----
Creed kept following his nose, following Silver Fox's scent. He kept thinking something was very familiar about all this.
-----
While Silver Fox, fortified her position, and Creed followed his nose, Wolverine was locking onto both their scents.
'I pray I ain't too late.'
Sparrow
**********
Victor could smell her, waiting to ambush him on the other side of the wall of boxes. Her scent, fear and determination, brought him back to a day many years ago. Logan's birthday. She'd had that same smell, but then, the scent had been mixed with her blood. He could fix that.
Ducking around the boxes, lower than she'd expected, he easily grabbed her swinging arm. Pinning her against the boxes, he effortlessly manipulated her wrist, forcing her to drop the knife. Taking a quick glance at her planned battle ground, he saw she had fortified her position with two crowbars and some rope, in addition to her knife. He grinned ferally in his captive's face; her makeshift weapons were no match against him.
Her scent was stronger, up against his body as she was, but the smell was still wrong. He ran a claw along her throat, creating a wound no deeper than a paper cut, but still yielding a few drops of blood. There, that was how he remembered it.
"Just like old times, frail."
"No," she answered with determination. "This time I will kill you."
He laughed at her brave words. "No, this time, we'll do it right."
"Let 'er go, Vic," a masculine voice interrupted.
Creed turned to see Logan standing a few feet away. To all outward appearances, he was strong and ready to fight, but his scent wafted exhaustion and pain.
"Now why would I want to do that? We were just about to have some fun."
"This isn't you, Vic. Not anymore."
"This is more the real me, and the real you, than you're ready to admit, little man."
"Clarice is waiting for you."
At the mention of his little girl's name, the spell was broken, the past programming fell away, and Sabretooth was once again Victor Creed.
Logan could see the change come over his once enemy/now friend. "Go, Vic, I've got it covered."
Creed released Silver Fox and picked up her weapons, taking them with him as he left Logan alone with her.
Logan looked at the woman sitting on the cold concrete, clutching her legs to her chest. He could smell her blood, but the wound was superficial. Vic had been able to keep that much control.
"Fox," he said, calmly approaching the woman. "Why d'ya keep coming after us?"
"How can you ask me that?" She asked, lifting up her head, rage filling her eyes. "You know what happened."
"No, I know what I think happened. Until I saw you again at Xavier's school, I thought you were dead. I remember holding your body. I remember fighting Creed in revenge until I was near dead."
"No!" she yelled, interrupting him. "You never came back. He came and... and... did things and you never came back. You left me with him."
"Fox, none of it happened. Not what I remember, not what you remember. They're memory implants to control us, to make us better soldiers."
Silver Fox held her hands up to her ears. "No, I was there. I felt it."
"Let me help you. There's a guy I know. He can help you sort out what's real and what's not. If he can help Vic, he can help anybody."
"Why do you want to help me?" she asked, her voice suddenly small.
"I remember loving ya, Fox. I still care about ya. You're better than this. That's not something they made up. That's real."
Khaki
**********
Nick used his larger frame to force Val back. He slammed her hard against the weapon, dazing her.
"We'll talk it out later, Val," Nick stated using her hair as a hand hold to bash her forehead against it, knocking her out. "Better to mess up your pretty face than get you killed."
He pulled his communicator out. "Dum Dum, get a group of techies down here and disassemble this thing. Any sign of Silver Fox or Viper? Val called Silver Fox her master but mind control has always been Viper's MO to my knowledge. I want 'em both."
Jason Barnett
**********
Pyro and Iceman had split off from the rest of the team still hunting down Hydra goons.
"Give it up, lady," Pyro shouted over the wooden crates that were doing a bang up job of keeping the bullets from hitting him. "There ain't no way out, 'cept quietly."
The only reply was a spate of cursing that would have made both young mutants blush if they hadn't heard worse from their overall team leader. And Jubes was at least ten years younger than the green hag they had cornered in a store room.
"Like the man said, give it up," Iceman shouted from behind his ice shield. "The only way you're getting out is if Pyro melts the door, and we have nothing but time."
"Shield lapdogs! You'll never take me alive!" Viper screamed as she resumed firing on them.
Pyro ground his teeth together to keep a scream of his own from ripping loose.
One of the bullets had finally gotten through one of the much abused crates.
An explosion from someplace deeper in the rabbit warren of tunnels rocked the room. A support beam gave way with a groan and a shudder that shook the room again, leaving the two young X-men coughing and choking on dust.
And a green gloved hand streaked with green tinged blood sticking out of the rubble.
"I hate it when they're right," Iceman groaned, right before he turned to cough up his lunch.
Pyro just nodded blankly.
Mac
**********
Nick had laid Val gently down on the floor when Dum Dum and a few agents came into the room.
"I brought them back up for the techs. We'll have to work fast. Most of the guards have either surrendered or been captured but, there are still some on the loose down here." Dum Dum saw Nick next to the unconscious Val. "You found her I see. How's she doing?"
"Still not happy to see me. She'll probably have one heck of a headache, but should be all right." Nick replied. "I want Viper and Silver Fox."
Before Dum Dum could answer there was the sound of a shot and the tech beside him fell to the ground. Everyone took cover and begain shooting back. It didn't take long to relize that they had been pinned down. Nick and Dum Dum had pulled Val next to the machine for cover and made their shots as the opportunity presented itself.
During the firefight, Val woke up and seeing that Nick and the SHIELD agents' attention was on shooting at the returning guards, she reached up and actived the machine. Nick Fury would die.
-----
Scott and his team moved quietly to where they heard the sound of gunfire. They had been walking through the tunnels fighting HYDRA agents as they encountered them, looking for the machine. They rounded a corner and saw HYDRA guards firing at what was presumably SHIELD personnel in a large room.
Jean erected a TK shield around them as Scott blasted the guards enough to stun them and Storm blew them away from the line of fire. Between the two opposing forces, the guards didn't stand a chance. The two left standing surrendered. The X-Men walked up to the doorway as the SHIELD agents arrested the HYDRA guards. Storm was the first to feel the currents of the room change as the machine drew in air to cool its motor.
"Cyclops, the machine has been turned on!"
Lurker
**********
The machine began to make a knocking sound as it rocked back and forth. Nick dove for Val knocking her to the floor and covering her with his body. Jean quickly threw up a TK sheild around them as the machine blew. The force of the explosion knocked everyone off their feet and rattled the walls as various pieces of metal and electronics flew across the room. Luckily, no one seemed seriously hurt. With the exception of Nick and Val, everyone had been rounding up the HYDRA guards.
Jean dropped her shield and ran over to the two prone figures. Nick rolled off Val and rubbed his head. He looked at what was left of the machine five feet away. "She did say it was missing parts."
"She'll be all right," Jean said as she checked over the again unconscious Val.
Lurker
**********
Nick nodded at the doctor, then turned to Dum Dum. "What about Viper and Silver Fox?"
"Viper's dead; she was killed during the battle. Silver Fox got away. We can't find her anywhere."
"We'll deal with her later. Now, I wanna get Val back to SHIELD and get her some serious medical attention." He turned to the X-Men. "Guess this is it. Thanks for your help."
Cyclops shook his offered hand. Then the X-Men went one way and the SHIELD agents went the other.
-----
Days later, Logan was walking by the lake when he came across Jubilee sitting on the dock.
"Hey, Jubes," he said, sitting down beside her.
"Hey, Wolvie."
They just sat there for a few minutes, neither of them saying anything. Then Logan spoke.
"How's the cajun?"
"Fine. Dr. Grey's releasing him today. How's Silver Fox?"
"The professor's helping her sort out her memories, but I'm still not one of her favorite people."
"At least she's not trying to kill ya anymore."
"Yeah."
Another few minutes passed in silence. Then Jubilee spoke.
"I'm sorry... ya know... for trying ta kill ya."
"You don't have ta apologize, Jubes. It wasn't you."
"I know, but still, I was there. I saw it, and, well, I'm just really glad you're ok."
"And I'm really glad you're back to being you."
"So we're ok, then?"
"Yeah."
"Good."
They sat there, now companionably quiet, and watched the sun set over the water.
Khaki